Federal Judiciary

The Dog Ate My Summons (well, sort of)

By Michael C. Smith

Sipco, LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc. et al, (2-08-cv-00359)(Feb. 10, 2009)
Judge: David Folsom
Holding: Motion to Set Aside Default/Dismissal GRANTED
The defendant had a default taken against it and sought to set it aside on the basis that water damage in its office made the summons and complaint unreadable.  Judge Folsom agreed that the defendant had shown good cause under FRCP 60 to set aside the default.  He held that the defendant's failure to answer was justifiable, but even if it were not, "the first two factors?lack of prejudice and the existence of meritorious defenses? weigh heavily in favor of setting aside the default judgment."

Full post as published by Eastern District of Texas Federal Court Practice on February 12, 2009 (boomark / email).